This invention relates generally to the field of musical drums and deals more particularly with a drumhead which is specially constructed to suppress and muffle unwanted overtones and vibrations without detracting from the characteristics of desirable fundamental tones.
In the music industry, drummers and sound engineers have recognized that the peripheral areas of the drumhead produce unwanted ringing and overtones that detract from the sound of the primary fundamental tones. Various approaches have been taken to attempt to suppress the unwanted overtones. For example, tape and other laminations have been applied to the playing surface of the drumhead. Although this technique has been somewhat successful, it has been less than satisfactory in a number of respects. Perhaps most notably, the laminated material is relatively thick and thus muffles desirable sounds as well as unwanted overtones. The thickness of the lamination also alters the feel of the drum and can detract from the clarity and crispness of the initial drum sound when the head is struck by the drumstick.
Bass drums have been particularly difficult to muffle adequately. Blankets and pillows of various types are commonly installed inside of the drum shell by individual drummers to serve as mufflers which are intended to decrease the overtones and rattles on the front head that result from striking of the batter head. Aside from the manifest problems caused by this technique, it does not effectively muffle the undesirable acoustical effects and is not uniform in its performance from one situation to another.
With the advent of digital recording and playback and with the increasingly high quality demands that have been placed on musical recordings and performances in recent years, the foregoing problems have been increasingly serious detriments to achieving acceptable drum performance. Consequently, there is a clear need to provide a way to decrease these problems and thereby improve the acoustical properties of drums.